Velikaia Wins Gold, Zagunis Silver in Women’s Sabre

Sophia Velikaia (RUS) found herself down 11-6 to 2 time Gold Medalist Mariel Zagunis (USA).  She did not give up, however, but fought her way back to knot the match at 14-14 and then won the decisive point.  With that display, she demonstrated that she expects better than 4th at the 2012 Olympics.

Unlike the other weapons thus far all 4 top seeds made it to the final four.  This event was also unusual in that there were no Italians up for medals, though earlier in the day Italy claimed it’s 3rd gold of the World Championships.

The talk of the tournament was Vietnam’s Thi le Dung Nguyen and her race to the top-16.  She opened the day with a stunning upset of Aleksandra Socha (POL) 15-12 and went on to defeat Reka Benko (HUN) 15-13.  Her run would end in the 16 as Irene Vecchi (ITA) defeated her 15-3.  This is the top result for a Vietnamese fencer in world championships competition.

Olympic Sized Bouts

There were several bouts throughout the day that were important for Olympic qualification, but none as directly impactful as the quarter-final match between Ekaterina Diatchenko (RUS) and Julia Gavrilova (RUS).  Russia boasts 3 fencers in the top-10 in Olympic qualification points, but due to this year’s rules only 2 fencers from a county may compete in Women’s Sabre.  The win by Gavrilova in the top-8 put Diatchenko on the outs, trailing by 12 world cup points with half a season left in qualifying, a difficult position to be in for the world’s 6th ranked fencer.

The United States also boasts an overabundance of talent in the event, with 4 women ranked in the top-16.  Today, however, Ibtihaj Muhammad and Daria Schneider were unable to pull of wins in their opening round matches, leaving Dagmara Wozniak the opportunity to help herself along in the qualification process.  Wozniak earned victories over Margarita Tschomakova (BUL) and Dina Galiakbarova (RUS) to make the top-16.  She fell in her bid to make the 8 with a 15-10 loss to World #2 Olga Kharlan (UKR).

Final Results; Women’s Sabre 2011 World Championship